Girls at Olympic Heights do double duty on cross country and bowling teams

October 6, 2010|By Gary Curreri, Sun Sentinel correspondent

At Olympic Heights, the two-sport athlete has become the two-sport team.

Each week, five members of the Lions' girls cross country team trade in their running shoes and compete for the school's bowling team.

"It is very rare to have this many athletes doing two sports at the same time," said Frank D'Annunzio, the school's cross country coach and assistant principal. "It actually worked out where their matches didn't fall on any days when we have meets."

The girls are relative newcomers to both sports, and use cross country mostly to train for soccer and they started bowling for fun.

Senior Roselle Tozzo, 17, has tried almost every sport at the school from cheerleading to soccer. This season she is running cross country, bowling and plans to play flag football.

"I like cross country because you are outside and you see all of the nature," said Tozzo, who averages 115 in bowling and runs around 26 minutes in cross country. "In bowling you meet people, it's relaxing, and you don't have to worry about your face sweating, you hair getting messed up or getting [sun] burned."

The girls don't run at cross country practice on Tuesdays because they bowl. They will run cross country on the other days and make it to bowling afterwards or bowl on their own on the weekends.

Tori Gaffey, 17, a senior, is the school's No. 1 cross country runner and top bowler. Her best time in cross country for the 3.1-mile layout is 26 minutes and she averages 120 in bowling. She is also a top recruiter as she was able to convince the majority of her teammates to compete in both sports.

Gaffey, who is running cross country for the first time, likes that bowling practices never get rained out, they play in air conditioning and bowling builds muscle in your arms.

The camaraderie is another factor.

"I wanted to be with my friends," said Bruna Viana, who averages 110 in bowling and 30 minutes in cross country. "I like bowling better because I am a little slow in running."

Added senior Lily de la Espriella: "We all have a sense of humor and we have great chemistry. "It's been like a dream come true."

Annie DeLuca, 16, a junior, said she'd love to go to states in both bowling and cross country. The team reached regionals last year in cross country.

"I wasn't expecting this to be this much fun," DeLuca said. "When I think of bowling, I think of serious people."

"They have a good time," said Olympic Heights girls bowling coach Brian Doyle, whose team is 13-32.

"It is sociable and the girls are very competitive. They want to do well. There haven't been any conflicts yet. If they have a match, they come to us and if they have a meet, they go to them."